Page 110 of The Bad Wedding Date

When I’d seen the photograph of Fraser and me in Covent Garden, staring at each other with dopey smiles on our faces from across the table, I’d known the threat that was being issued, but I was in denial, terrified about what it meant. What I’d got myself caught up in. What the hell it meant going forward.

I’d mocked Fraser for being overprotective.

Now I wished I’d listened.

I just couldn’t believe all ofthiscould possibly be because of Matteo Vega. While he may not have been my favourite person in the world, he was the favourite of more than a few with his charming nature, his charitable doings plastered across the newspapers for decades, and the fact that he employed so many people through his many businesses, it felt like he was always giving back to the community.

Only a few knew how much he took, and I was officially one of them now. It was becoming clear that Matteo and his men had issue with that, and the history of our families meant nothing to him anymore.

“We need to go,” Wade said, his words an order.

That’s all it took for me to pack a bag with the essentials, lock up my home, and follow him out to his blacked-out Range Rover. Dean waited at the end of the pathway with a sly smirk on his face, with another man beside him not looking quite as cocksure. I wondered if that guy was Joey.

“Welcome to the world everyone likes to pretend doesn’t exist,” Dean said, tipping an imaginary hat when I walked past.

The guy I assumed was Joey held my gaze for only a moment. “Ignore him. Everyone else does.”

I tore my eyes away, too overwhelmed with everything happening around me. Fraser had sent three men to come for me. Three. Either the threat was bigger than I could have anticipated, or someone was being a little too overprotective.

Wade instructed me to get into the front seat of the Range Rover, and I did so without question, feeling like the new girl at school, while Dean and Joey climbed in the back.

“Where are we going?” I asked Wade, looking at him and his flawless brown skin and strong jaw as he stared straight ahead, a man on a mission.

“To Fraser.”

“Can I ask where that is, exactly?”

“You’ll find out when you get there.”

I scowled and turned to look out of the passenger window, not knowing how to respond to his clipped tone. If Wade thought I was an inconvenience, I couldn’t blame him. From the little Fraser had told me about everything that went on in this world, I’d become a pain in not just Fraser’s side, but these men’s, too—something that had happened in such a short space of time.

Neither Dean nor Joey spoke on the entire journey, and after forty minutes, I began to doubt everything. What was I doing? How did I get here? How the hell was I going to get out?

The thought of never seeing Fraser again sent a weird pain to both my chest and stomach, nausea rising in my throat.

If I was going to question myself, I had one last one to throw into the mix: How the hell had one fake wedding date led to all this?

The answer came in a name. His name.

It was the only answer I needed.

As if he knew I was thinking about him, he called me.

“Hi,” I answered.

“Hey.” That ‘hey’ always made my stomach flip, no matter the emotion he injected into it. His voice was tense this time, and I could imagine the worried yet stern look on his face. “Are you okay?”

“A little shaken up.” I chanced a glance at Wade, but he was so focused on his duty to get me to Fraser, he never even twitched or tried to look my way. I turned my head to look back out of the passenger window again. “A little confused about where I’m going.”

“He’s bringing you back to Leigh-on-Sea. To me.”

To me.That’s all I needed to hear, even though Wade had said as much already. When Fraser said it, however, it made the chills on my arms and neck disappear only to be replaced by a warmth that didn’t make sense under the circumstances.

“That’s where your mum lives,” I said on a breath, piecing it together.

“Yeah.” He paused, taking a moment, and I felt a weird tension floating down the phone. “You’re ten minutes away. I’ll see you soon.”

“How do you know that?”

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